It was an odd feeling to be hit by a wall of scaly muscles while channeling the literal concept of a Juggernaut. Ethan felt the incredible strength slamming into him with such an impact he thought even metal would dent under such tremendous power. But it did nothing to his flight or trajectory. In fact, he kept flying toward the throat of the lord , and the tail bent around him and fell away.

  That didn’t mean he was unscathed, though.

  All of that impact had to go somewhere. Someone–or something–had to pay for the miraculous phenomenon of completely disregarding the laws of physics, and that place seemed to be Ethan’s soul, or whatever it was that was the source of these abilities. That part of him took the brunt of the stress, and it felt as if a ghostly, cold arm had gripped his heart and twisted. His vision dimmed and swam for an instant, but as fast as the sensation had stolen over him, it went away.

  That could have been a lot worse, he felt. He was almost sure. But he hadn’t been investing in Toughness for nothing. Or did this phenomenon fall under Spirit? He wasn’t sure of that part, but he knew that if he’d been any less resilient, he would have passed out then and there. He also knew that he had less than a second before the Zenith State came to an end as resisting the impact of the tail had consumed most of the few seconds he had in it.

  Shoving as much mana as he could in [Extended Enhancement], the [Draconic Claws] grew to nearly twenty inches, which shoved right into the neck of the lord and wrenched down as he let himself drop, opening a wide bloody gash he could have literally slipped into.

  The Zenith State came to an abrupt end as blood spurted over and around him, and that ghostly arm in his chest came back but this time, it just rested itself on his heart, a cold sensation that made him feel sick to his stomach.

  I pushed too much, he thought as he pulled himself up to his feet while the lord thrashed, sending sprays of blood all over the cave. It hissed and rasped, summoning a set of magical scales around its body, but the damage was already done, and the monitor around it frothed at what had been done to their leader.

  Ethan’s blood roared in his ears as he beat his wings to create some distance between himself and the creatures. He needed space. At least until he recovered a bit from the backlash. And when he felt the uncomfortable sensation refuse to abate after a few seconds, he began considering a retreat.

  Wait…maybe after a couple of seconds. After all, I might have gotten it good.

  The lord stumbled, blood flowing out of its neck as if it had sprung a leak, but it refused to go down, and to his surprise, it slunk back in the darkness, growling as it sent its progeny forward while it backed away to heal.

  Ethan… didn’t mind that. He would really prefer to finish it off now before it could fully recover and heal. But he needed to recover a bit himself.

  Landing at the other end of the cave, he took a few deep breaths while the swarm of monitors came at him.

  That’s… thirty? Thirty something?

  Ethan rolled his neck and shook his arms, and as the seconds went by, he felt the cold grip within his chest relax. Something still felt sore, and he absolutely needed a good rest after this, but he could still go on for just a bit. Just enough to finish up here. He wasn’t sure if he’d have it in him to finish up the lord, but he could at least thin out the herd and it wasn’t as if this outing had been unproductive.

  As the first fireball hit the line of oncoming monitors and as the thick stream of fire blasted out to keep them at bay, the image of Edwin’s empty gaze flashed in his mind.

  The monitors screeched in pain, and through the fire, shards of crystal shot in his general direction but without the monitors being able to see him, they all went wide.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  Ethan did not regret what had happened with Edwin. He regretted he hadn’t known about the man’s presence earlier. How many must have fallen because of him ever since this whole thing had started? Clearly, the man had not changed much. Same as before, he was very much willing to use those around him to his own end. And when he got what he needed out of them, he had no compunction about just… discarding them. Just like the envenomed man Ethan and Ember had seen outside, which reminded him of something.

  While keeping the jet of fire going, Ethan shot a homing crystal shard blindly with his right hand before he touched the wound in his back. He had actually forgotten about it with the lord and whatnot, but as he gingerly felt at it, he realized it was mostly closed. It was still a bit raw, but there was none of that burning sensation. No numbness.

  Either the Toughness had already neutralized the venom, or maybe it was his traits. The only new variable was Zenith State, and there wasn’t a lot of information about that one, but it wouldn’t be too surprising if his healing got boosted while he was in that state. If he could shrug off a massive tail whip in that state, healing a stab wound could be in the cards.

  You have reached Level 56. 1 stat point awarded.

  Ethan pulled up the flames for a second to see the state of the monitors, and found a handful burnt to a crisp while the rest had backed away. Most were showing scorch marks, and as the screen of fire dropped, they growled once more while their throats began to glow.

  I’m going to sleep so well after this, Ethan thought, right as he drowned the space in flames once more before he rushed forward.

  ***

  Ethan lay on his back, panting. He was so close to falling asleep, but he still did not want to back off just yet. He wanted to finish the lord and get some well earned rest, and now that the backlash of the Zenith State had passed, he felt he had enough energy in him to finish the fight off. Especially with how close he was to level 60.

  You have reached Level 57. 1 stat point awarded.

  …

  You have reached Level 59. 1 stat point awarded.

  “I’m so damn close… If I had just one more it would have made killing the lord even easier. But at least once it’s down, dealing with the other two should be a cakewalk.”

  Ethan stared at the ceiling, then frowned as he recalled the location of the other two. “Well… the swamp one should be the easiest one. Then I’m gonna have to figure out a way to get the last one out of the water.”

  Ethan had some ideas about that already. He was looking forward to seeing what this rift had for him when it came to rewards. He wondered how well Liz, Amelie, and the others were doing. He really hoped they were okay. Maybe once the rift was dealt with, the way out would appear? He sure hoped so. He had to find Luther and see what had happened to the real world.

  “[What are you doing?]”

  Tilting his head back and to the side, Ethan found himself staring up at an orange furry face of a clearly tired and impatient Ember.

  “I’m resting. I worked hard, can’t you see?”

  The cat peered around at the mountain of charred and decapitated monitors.

  “[None of these is the lord. What happened?]”

  Ethan straightened his head and went back to staring at the ceiling. “I cut its throat open and it ran. I’m taking a small break then I’m going after it. To finish it. Then we’re getting some real rest.”

  The cat sat down on her haunches, then let herself fall to the side. “[Fine. Let me know when you’re going then. You don’t need my help, right?]”

  “It’s fine, you can rest,” he said while he considered where to assign his points. “I’m looking forward to seeing what happens after the three lords are dead. What should I expect?”

  While he waited for an answer, Ethan assigned two points in Might to bring his base stats to 30, then gave Mana and Spirit one each to bring them both to 21. Toughness was sitting at 44 base stats, which was pretty solid, he assumed, and once he got the points from the side quest, he’ll push it to 50. Then Ethan frowned. Where was his answer?

  “Ember?”

  The cat growled softly in her throat. “[I’ll tell you… later…. I’m tired.]”

  Ethan sighed and sat up. Ember’s ears twitched, but her eyes were still closed as she laid on her side.

  “[Stay safe. You still owe me.]”

  Ethan shook his head, his steps echoing in the cave as he followed the bloody tracks of the lord. He should definitely start paying the Ignisra back soon, or the interests will ruin him.

  RoyalRoad is going off schedule for now. You'll be getting at least two chapters a week ( same days ), but I'm not scheduling them in advance. If for some reason I'm stuck in one story, then I'm not going to stress over it and move on to something else until I can come up with an organic resolution, without need to force it. This might change in the future (especially once I'm done with the mountain of edits I've got and once I'm back to 100%), but for now, I'm taking it easy.

  Last week of the month will be a break week. Doesn't mean I won't publish anything, as I might put up a chapter or two if the week had been productive, but otherwise I might just take it to rest or edit, so it would be a week of no expectations. I'd rather do this than... you know. Get too close to a burnout and then need a month+ to recover.

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